Rebecca Minkoff: The 'it' bag lady

Rebecca Minkoff, designer of everyone's favorite cross-body bag, is walking through Nordstrom with me and chatting like we're old friends.

The subject is the color palette of her newest spring line of bags, which she is showcasing for fans at South Coast Plaza. The bags, many in her iconic zippered cross-body design and in perforated versions of her MAB (Morning After Bag), come in spring's trendy black and white as well in what Minkoff calls "faded neon" – backlit pastels that are bright, not sweet.

The line, inspired by the poolside photos of Slim Aarons from the 1950s and 1960s, includes a full tote called the "Dylan" ($295) a new silhouette for the designer and a delightful pair of white boot-cut jeans with a digital floral print on the cuff for $298.

Minkoff, tall, slender and dark-haired, was raised in San Diego and this day, is the epitome of Southern California cool in jeans and low-heeled ankle boots. She's wearing an embellished vest that looks like it came from Morocco or some other far-flung destination, but which is really from a popular fast-fashion retailer she'd rather not name.

But she did dish on Southern California style, the importance of jeans and what she carries in her purse. Here's an edited version of that interview:

A:The original inspiration for that cross body (was that) there was a bigger one that was the second bag I ever designed. I just wanted to have a bag that could do many things; it could be a purse, a cross body and a clutch. It's not something I think about; it's probably more subconscious. I like the casual aspect of things being easy so I think that probably comes from growing up in San Diego.

Q:Looking through your spring collection, it seems like you understand that jeans are an important aspect of the way Southern California women dress.

A: I probably wear jeans 90 percent of the time so we thought it was important. Whenever we are about to start selling, my sales team asks, 'What do you put with this blouse?' and I say, 'Jeans.' So we thought it was important to add jeans into the line but do them in fun way; whether it is embroidered or beaded or studded, or digital floral print, my goal is to make denim that is more elevated but still speaks to a casual customer.

Q:I read that one of your inspirations were the Slim Aarons photographs. Why?

A: I was at a friend's house and came across her coffee table book. It was the pool time one ("Poolside With Slim Aarons," $53.38 on Amazon.com). I stopped talking to everyone at the party and just started looking at this book and became sort of obsessed: The beautiful settings and the perfect-looking people he was photographing took me to a fantasy. I wanted to imagine what would that girl be wearing now.

Q:I saw your tote – why did you decide to do that tote?

A: We noticed that our customer – in addition to having a cross body bag – loves a good tote, and we hadn't really ever nailed a good tote. It's a classic, you can do it in tons of colors and she can live in it.

Q:Do you think there is one perfect bag a woman can carry?

A: No, I think a woman has to have a lot of bags; I've never been a person to have one bag or one perfect shoe.

Q:What do you carry in your bag?

A: I'm sort of a minimalist: wallet, my keys, my two phones and some ChapStick.